A 53-year-old man has been charged after using a van to block the road access tunnel to Heathrow Airport.

Metropolitan police have confirmed Neil Keveren, 53, of High Street, Harmondsworth was charged on Thursday (July 2) with obstruction of a tunnel and has been bailed to appear at Uxbridge Magistrates' Court on July 20.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "It was 12.45 on Thursday (July 2) when we were called to the east bore inbound tunnel close to Heathrow following reports of a man blocking the tunnel with his vehicle.

"Officers attended and spoke with the man who claimed to be staging a protest.

"The man was arrested on suspicion of obstruction and taken to a west London police station."

The van blocked the airport's road access tunnel to Terminals 2 and 3 and brought traffic to a halt for more than half an hour.